June 13, 2004; The Second Sunday After Pentecost Readings: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15; Galatians 2:11-21; Luke 7:36-50; Psalm 32:1-8.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith Binding All Into One During this past week, we have witnessed the process of celebrating a life and of saying goodbye—for now. Ronald Wilson Reagan was president of our nation, and, in his death, that fact demanded our attention. The pageantry and the ritual were impressive. Ronald Reagan was also a person, like you and me, a person with family and friends. While the reverence given to him owing to his place in history called us to attention, I was struck by the simple moments common to all families who grieve. The love, the courage, the tears, and the goodbyes, drew us into the private moments of a public event. Perhaps through this man’s death, many sensed the connection that all God’s children share. If so, we can be thankful to Ronald Reagan for this last service to his country. Jesus spent much of his time helping people see the connections. Jesus talked about their connection to God that would never end. He provided a way for people, for us, to connect with God. "I am the way, the truth, and the life."—he said. Equally important to Jesus was his concern that we realize our connection to each other. What I do affects you, and what you do affects me. We are brothers and sisters, equal before God. The spiritual life is to be lived by honoring relationships—the relationship that we have with God and the relationships that we have with each other. Jesus makes the point often that spiritual growth is not something that happens apart from the issues of our times and the people in our lives. In today’s reading from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus helps a Pharisee to grow in spiritual maturity by challenging his closely held beliefs about people. Jesus challenges his beliefs about himself. You remember that the Pharisees were known for their piety and their religious learning. A woman, a known sinner, enters the home of a Pharisee. Being a woman and a sinner, she was unclean and would make anyone she touched ritually unclean as well. To the Pharisee’s horror, the woman approaches Jesus and touches him. She anoints Jesus with ointment and wipes his feet with her hair. The Pharisee condemns this shocking act of intimacy and questions Jesus’ authority. If Jesus were a prophet, he should have known that the woman was a sinner, the Pharisee reasons. He should not have allowed her to touch him. Then using a concept common in their culture, Jesus challenges these ideas of purity, sin and worthiness. "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts of both of them. Now which of them will love him more?" While the details of their lives differed, both debtors have something in common. Neither could pay the debt. The creditor forgives the debt of both. The forgiveness comes from the creditor and has nothing to do with the debtors. The debtors cannot earn the forgiveness and in this fact they are more alike than they might wish to admit. Jesus’ parable uses ideas and images from his time to make a timeless statement about God and humanity. God is the creditor who forgives the debts, the trespasses, the sins of all people. What the two debtors have in common is much more important than what divides them. Both need the grace of God. God gives that grace to all; it cannot be earned. Then Jesus actually makes being a greater debtor into an opportunity for blessing. Knowing that she had been forgiven many sins, the woman has great love for Jesus. The Pharisee, who has also sinned, is not aware of his need for forgiveness. Because he cannot see his need, he is not open to receive the grace. The woman, knowing her need, receives the forgiveness. She is transformed by God’s grace and acts with great love. The fruit of the Spirit is seen in her actions. We do not see that same transformation in the Pharisee. There are differences among people in this life. Some are leaders of nations but most are not. Some owe a lot and some owe a little. Some sin a lot and some a little. There are differences and these differences can divide us. We can try to categorize and rank others. We may be tempted to see ourselves as better than another. Or, equally harmful, we may be tempted to see ourselves as less worthy of respect than others. God calls us to recognize our connections. God calls us to see the equality of all people. As Nancy Reagan shed tears on the coffin as the sunset, all the ceremony unique to that occasion seemed much less important than her love for her husband. Take away the bands and the choirs, take away the international leaders and the honor guards, take away the cathedral, and we are still left with the sadness of grief and the power of love. We can relate to her loss. All that makes our lives different than hers faded into the background of all that connects us. To be human is to be fragile. Every person shares so much in this life. What connects us is more important than what, at times, divides us. The One who connects us is more important than what divides us. Amen.